


Windcliffs

by Kyleri



Category: Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Present Tense, Raksura are all queer but Moon doesn't know that yet, no beta we die like men, of course Stone remembers the fried puffs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29014872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyleri/pseuds/Kyleri
Summary: But the part of the day he looked forward to the most was before they slept, when Stone asked him questions about where he had lived, how far he had traveled, what he had seen.-- The Cloud Roads
Relationships: Moon & Stone (Books of the Raksura)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 31





	Windcliffs

**Author's Note:**

> *running around in circles screaming*
> 
> This is the first fic I've written in ... let's just say AO3 hadn't been invented yet, the last time I wrote anything. So I am KIND OF NERVOUS. Entirely unbeta'd, on account of I don't know a lot of other people who've read the books. Concrit welcome, but please be gentle!
> 
> Many thanks to @morgynleri for tagging assistance & cheerleading!

_But the part of the day he looked forward to the most was before they slept, when Stone asked him questions about where he had lived, how far he had traveled, what he had seen._ \-- The Cloud Roads

"Traders are used to meeting strange people," says Stone, the day after spending the evening with the Sericans. Moon still isn't convinced it had been a good idea, but then Stone has pretty novel ideas of what is and isn't dangerous. "They like it, a lot of them; I think sometimes they travel just because they get to see new things, meet new people, and the trading is just an excuse."

"Sounds like you," says Moon. "Maybe that's why you get along with groundlings so well."

"You live as long as I have, you'll get tired of seeing the same stuff all the time too. Something new? That's precious." Stone picks up the tea pot from its place next to the fire, refills Moon's tea, then his own. "I've travelled with caravans a bunch of times, saved a couple Sericans from a predator on a causeway like this one, just outside of Windcliffs. Ever been there?"

Moon sips his tea. "Lived there for half a turn," he says.

"Oh?" asks Stone. "I've been through there but never stayed more than a night. Long before you were born, of course." The firelight glints on Stone's teeth as he smiles a bit, and Moon hisses under his breath. Stone glances over at him, then shrugs slightly, not quite apologetic. "What was it like? I only visited the caravanserai."

Moon shrugs. "It was all right. Lots of kinds of groundlings, easy to blend in. I lived at an inn, got a room in exchange for helping the innkeeper with the heavy stuff, big casks of alcohol, sacks of grains, things he couldn't pick up on his own." He'd been having sex with the innkeeper, too, but he doesn't want to tell Stone that; he still doesn't know how Raksura feel about sex, and he's gotten in trouble with groundlings and _their_ weird ideas about sex enough times that he plans to be very cautious about finding out.

"You've found out we don't react to most groundling intoxicants, right?" asks Stone, and Moon nods.

"I told the innkeeper I got really angry when I drank, so I didn't drink any more, and he said that made me smarter than most people." Moon smiles a bit, wry; he'd liked Tagen, enough that the sex had been more than just a way to make sure he stayed on the man's good side. But then he remembers how it'd all ended, and the smile falls from his face.

Stone must notice, because he reaches over and shoves Moon in the shoulder -- gently -- and says, "I remember they sold these really good fried puffs at the caravanserai, with this creamy spiced stuff in the middle and ground-up nuts on top, said they were only made in Windcliffs. Did your innkeeper make them too?"

Moon smiles again, remembering. "No, but one of the people who worked for him did. I had to be careful not to eat too many, I could eat more than most groundlings can at a sitting if I wasn't paying attention, they were so good. Galia liked me a lot, because I liked her food. She'd bring her daughter with her when she was working, and Iryll liked me too. Plus -- well." He shrugs again, settling the spines he doesn't have in this form, then reaches for another log to add to the fire.

"She didn't have anyone to watch her daughter while she was working?" asks Stone, and Moon shakes his head, stares into the leaping flames.

"She and her mate had grown up in Windcliffs but their families disowned them, so they didn't have a lot of friends left. Her mate Esaere worked in the stables, tending wagonbeasts and riding beasts, and it wasn't safe for Iryll out there. Tagen -- the inkeeper -- he felt bad for them, I guess, so he hired them both, and he'd let Iryll help -- he even cut down a broom so it was short enough she could use it. He was good that way." Moon pauses a moment, then looks up at Stone. "Most of the people in Windcliffs think the only right way to be mated or married is if the people are different sexes, so Esaere and Galia had a lot of trouble living there sometimes."

Stone just shakes his head. "Groundlings," he says, in long-suffering tones. "They really make things hard for themselves sometimes."

Moon lets out a quiet breath. "But Tagen thought it was fine, and so did I, so they were pretty safe as long as they stayed near the tavern." He'd spent enough time looming behind Galia when less-tolerant inn patrons were giving her trouble that after a while they'd stopped coming in, but enough new customers had found the place that Tagen hadn't lost any business. "It worked, for a while."

"What happened?" asks Stone quietly.

"The Fell." Moon twitches his shoulders; if he were in his other form his spines would be rising. "I saw a harbinger one day, just circling -- too high for the groundlings to see, I guess -- and a few days later I smelled Fell stench coming from where the council met."

"That's a shame. I liked that town." Stone pokes at the fire for a moment. "Your friends?" he asks.

It had been less than a turn since Saraseil, and Moon had been terrified, then angry, then frantic, trying to convince his friends to leave town -- leave everything they had, the lives they'd built -- and the thing that had finally worked, that he'd tried in desperation, had saved their lives but cost him dearly.

He takes a deep breath. "They got out," he says quietly. "But only after I shifted in front of them. They ran, Galia grabbed Iryll, they ran from me. The inn wasn't far from the gates so they just ... ran. Until they were outside the gates, out of sight of the town." Moon shakes his head. "I knew they would. I packed up some of their things and left them on the causeway, far enough they wouldn't see me. I hid in a spiral tree, waited til they got that far. I didn't know if they'd take them -- they had to know I'd been the one to leave it there for them, I could see them arguing, but then Tagen picked up the pack and they kept going. They caught up with a Serican caravan that night -- I put some of those trading tokens they use there, enough so they could buy their way in -- I saw them safe, and then I left. I heard a season later that Windcliffs was gone."

Stone puts a hand on Moon's shoulder, then pulls him in for a one-armed hug. Moon stares into the fire for a while, leaning against Stone, and eventually drifts off into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Ever wondered what sorts of stories Moon told Stone while they were on their way to Sky Copper? Yeah, me too.
> 
> Stone's visit to Windcliffs is mentioned in one of the short stories the author has posted to her crowdfunding site that starts with P.


End file.
